San Joaquin County
Biographies
EDWIN BRUCE COGSWELL
EDWIN BRUCE COGSWELL, a
rancher of Douglass Township, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, September
25, 1823, son of James and Harriet (Sweetser) Cogswell, both natives of that
State. The mother died in 1865, aged seventy-two, and her two sisters also lived to be quite old. The father died
comparatively young, but grandfather James Cogswell lived to be eighty.
E. B. Cogswell received a good
district-school education and became a clerk in a store in Boston at the age of
seventeen, holding his situation for eight years. He then went to Cincinnati,
Ohio, and filled a position in the same line,--hats, caps and furs. His career
in that city was cut short by the epidemic of 1849 and he left for California,
more through fear of cholera than the thirst for gold. His route was by way of
New Orleans and the Isthmus, and he arrived in San Francisco in August, 1849.
He went to mining on Big Bar on the Mokelumne river and ranged about in that
vicinity, averaging perhaps $6 a day. In the autumn of 1850 he located 160
acres, in what is now Douglass Township, three miles east of Linden, and there
opened a hotel, the place being known for some years as the Henrietta ranch.
His next movement was the opening of a store in Weaverville, Trinity County,
having a partner in each enterprise. In 1852 he went to Boston, staying only
three months and one his return dissolved partnership. In 1853 he obtained a
title to his 160 acres of land from the State, and has since enlarged the ranch
to 232 acres. It is good wheat-land, a large part of it having borne wheat for
twelve consecutive years with little reduction in the annual yield. Mr.
Cogswell has filled no other office than that of school trustee. He took an
active interest in the grange movement at one time; was Master of the Linden
Grange, and in 1875 a delegate to the State Grange Convention in San Francisco.
Mr. Cogswell was married in 1868 to Mrs.
Sarah Jane (Kelton) Van Pelt, of Mokelumne Hill, a native of New Hampshire,
daughter of James and Sarah (Ford) Kelton. The mother died in that State in
1885, aged seventy, and the grandparents on both sides lived to be quite old.
The only living child of Mrs. Cogswell is Edwin S. Van Pelt, born June 2, 1858,
married June 20, 1888, to Miss Minnie M. Davenport, a native of Linden.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Page 258. Lewis Pub. Co.
Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Genealogy Databases